Editorial:

Congratulations:
ABC Board rejects Liberal Party interference

Congratulations to the ABC Board for its decision to appoint Mr Russell 
Balding to become the General Manager of the ABC. It took courage but the 
interests of the ABC as an independent broadcaster were at stake.

The top brass of the Liberal Party made a serious attempt to force the 
Board to appoint a former Packer executive, Trevor Kennedy, to the 
position. Howard attempted to lean on ABC Chairman, Donald McDonald who had 
been selected personally by him earlier but to no avail.

Senator Alston, Peter Costello, Michael Kroger (a Liberal Party head-kicker 
and extreme right-winger), and others all became part of the pressure gang. 
Even some members of the Labor Party joined in by saying that Kennedy 
should be given an equal chance with others even though his application was 
outside the specified time.

The ABC had already experienced the chaos created by the appointment of 
Jonathan Shier to the position of general manager. He came to the job with 
Liberal Party blessing to do a hatchet job on the ABC but was forced to 
resign after serving only about 12 months of his five-year appointment. 
Shier laid in with a sharp axe, sacking a number of the well-known and 
professional ABC programmers.

ABC ratings plummeted and ABC staff members rallied to have Shier removed. 
Ratings began to rise again immediately following his dismissal.

Mr Balding's appointment has been welcomed by ABC staff as bringing much 
needed stability to the ABC. It will also be welcomed by all who know the 
ABC as an independent national broadcaster which provides many worthwhile 
programs such as the 7.30 Report, Backburner, Media Watch, Lateline, PM 
and AM and many high quality cultural programs.

Balding's appointment is also likely to lead to emphasis being given to the 
production of programs with Australian content whereas Mr Kennedy, the 
Liberal Party's preferred option, would have led to more and more reliance 
on imported US and British programs and to the skewing of the news services 
to suit the interests of the Packer and Murdoch stables and the Liberal 
Party.

It cannot be expected that the attacks on the ABC by the right-wing 
establishment will cease.

Mr Chris Pyne a Liberal Party Parliamentarian from SA made that very clear. 
He continued to make attacks on the alleged "left" bias of the ABC when he 
appeared on Lateline last Friday night. His remarks were notable for their 
ignorance as well as viciousness.

The Liberal Party and sections of the media are also claiming that the 
appointment of Mr Balding will bring to an end the "reforms" introduced by 
Jonathan Shier — the very same reforms that proved to be such a disaster. 
But that is the future that the Liberals planned for the ABC. It would suit 
their interests to see the ABC smashed up altogether.

Some in the media continue to talk about the necessity for "vision" and for 
"new" ideas. What they really mean is the empty conservatism of the Howard 
brigade and of the ruling class that has little to offer except violence, 
pornographic sex and humiliating subservience to the US and all things that 
come out of America.

Then there are the prostitute journalists of the mass media who offer 
gratuitous insults. One wrote in The Australian under the headline 
"Balding fancied himself for job" that he "knew little about programming 
and talk like a programmer".

The article went on: "He'll be seen in some quarters — not least in some 
political circles — as someone the board and its chairman, Donald 
McDonald, has found congenial and easy to work with..."

The Howard Government may well retaliate by further cuts to ABC funds in 
the future and intensify its attempts to stack the ABC Board with its own 
nominees. Michael Kroger is the most obvious and the most odious of its 
appointments so far.

However, despite this the ABC Board struck a blow against political 
interference and for the opportunity to go about its work in a more stable 
atmosphere.